How to put your storefront on your own domain
Pointing your own domain at your storefront takes two DNS records and up to a day to propagate. It matters more than it looks: search authority, email deliverability and customer trust all accrue to a domain you own rather than to a shared subdomain.
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Why a custom domain is worth the hour
- Search authority accumulates to the domain. On a shared subdomain, the value of every link you earn accrues somewhere else.
- Trust. Customers are measurably more willing to enter card details on a branded domain than a platform subdomain.
- Portability. If you ever change platforms, your links, your rankings and your printed materials still work.
- Email. Sending from your own domain is what makes branded transactional email deliverable.
Choosing a domain
Short, spellable, and pronounceable over the phone. Avoid hyphens and creative spellings — you will be reading this out to customers for years. A country domain like .ca or .co.uk is a positive signal for a local shop rather than a compromise.
The DNS setup
- 1
Add the domain in your storefront settings
SECND shows you exactly which records to create for your domain.
- 2
Create the records at your registrar
Typically a CNAME for the www subdomain and either an A record or a redirect for the apex. Your registrar's DNS panel is where these live.
- 3
Wait for propagation
Usually minutes, occasionally up to 24 hours depending on the previous TTL. Nothing is wrong if it is not instant.
- 4
Confirm the certificate
HTTPS is provisioned automatically once DNS resolves. Load the site and check for the padlock before you advertise the address.
- 5
Pick one canonical form
Either www or the apex, with the other redirecting to it. Serving both without a redirect splits your search signals.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Still showing the old site | DNS cached locally — try another network or a different device |
| Certificate warning | DNS has not fully resolved yet; wait rather than reconfiguring |
| www works, apex does not | The apex record is missing or your registrar needs an ALIAS instead of an A record |
| Site loads but images do not | A leftover record or a redirect loop from a previous host |
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a subdomain like shop.mysite.com?
Yes. A subdomain is a good choice if you already have a site on the apex domain and want the shop to live alongside it rather than replace it.
Will my existing links break?
Links to the SECND address continue to work. Once your domain is live, use it everywhere going forward so authority accumulates in one place.
Do I need to buy an SSL certificate?
No. HTTPS is provisioned and renewed automatically once your DNS resolves correctly.
How long does the whole thing take?
Ten minutes of work and up to a day of waiting. The waiting is DNS propagation, which is outside anyone's control and not a sign of a problem.
Step-by-step product docs
This guide explains how it works. These show you exactly where to click.
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